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my (serious) girlfriend is a rising senior at a strong public school on the west coast. her LSDAS gpa is a 3.65, adjusted downward from the low 3.8s because of a NP in a difficult math class. she has over a 3.9 in her major. her LSAT testing range is 166-170. she has excellent softs and a shitload of WE.

i am a 0L at HLS. i say this to emphasize a) this will be a long-distance relationship b) my degree transports across markets more easily than hers presumably will. i have clerkship/academia ambitions, she does not, at least not at this point. we both would like to spend at least a few years in biglaw.

assume we would like to settle down/practice in the bay area, DC, southern california, in descending order. employment prospects in these markets are a huge factor. other important factors include: cost; ability to see each other; prestige; good QoL.

what schools should she be targeting?

smittytron3k wrote:my (serious) girlfriend is a rising senior at a strong public school on the west coast. her LSDAS gpa is a 3.65, adjusted downward from the low 3.8s because of a NP in a difficult math class. she has over a 3.9 in her major. her LSAT testing range is 166-170. she has excellent softs and a shitload of WE.

i am a 0L at HLS. i say this to emphasize a) this will be a long-distance relationship b) my degree transports across markets more easily than hers presumably will. i have clerkship/academia ambitions, she does not, at least not at this point. we both would like to spend at least a few years in biglaw.

assume we would like to settle down/practice in the bay area, DC, southern california, in descending order. employment prospects in these markets are a huge factor. other important factors include: cost; ability to see each other; prestige; good QoL.

what schools should she be targeting?

Hard to say without an actual LSAT score, and how debt-averse your girlfriend is. I would say UCLA would be a good bet, and would give your girlfriend strong prospects throughout California. (Remember your GF will likely see the infamous test-day score drop too).

I'm talking to a former partner (now runs his own firm) at Jones Day of San Francisco tomorrow about pretty much this same issue amongst others. I'll let you know what he says, but from his e-mails he seemed to imply that class rank is far more important than the school, though top rank at Harvard will carry far more rank than top at Hastings. That said, they have a few Hastings grads in the SF offices.